TSMC’s 28nm ARM chip hits 3GHz

TSMC’s has managed to push a dual-core ARM A9 chip to a whopping 3GHz. The chip is based on the 28nm HPM (high performance mobile) process and capable of running up to 3.1GHz, although the “mobile computing” clock range is 1.5GHz to 2.0GHz.

Now, that big gray thing in the corner, well that is the elephant in the room. We are talking about a 28nm chip, but it is an A9 part, not an A15. Although TSMC boasts that the new chip is twice as fast as 40nm A9 chips, it is still based on the same old architecture.

So it appears we are looking at a technology demonstrator, let’s not call it a publicity stunt, as A15 is the way to go and it is very unlikely we will ever see 2GHz+ A9 cores implemented in actual products.